University of California fraternity accused of racism because coconut bras and grass skirts are racist

  In today’s politically correct America it seems as if there is nothing which cannot be deemed racist or offensive, especially among our college students and their faculties.

  First we heard the story about Dartmouth University: A sorority in this esteemed educational institution decided to hold a Cino de Mayo themed fundraiser, which they dubbed “Phiesta,” on the Mexican holiday which would have raised money for cardiac research.  It was cancelled after one student called the event “exploitative” and “inappropriate”  becuase apparently serving tacos is racist.

 It was also proof, she said, that the date is nothing more than a “drinking holiday in the United States, cultural appropriation and the inappropriate usage of cultural clothing, and the exploitation of groups of people and cultures for the sake of business opportunities.”

As a result, the presidents of the Phi Delta Alpha fraternity and the Alpha Phi sorority at Dartmouth decided to cancel the party, which was meant to be a fundraiser for a cardiac health charity.

  Then came the story of University of St. Thomas: Students at this university decided to hold a “hump day” celebration which included a live camel which students would have been able to have their pictures taken with. This idea was obviously a takeoff of the famous hump day commercial for Geico, but it was cancelled after concerns were voiced on Facebook that this could be deemed racially insensitive to Muslims. 

But the event was subsequently cancelled after students took to Facebook to proclaim their concerns. The students said they were concerned about the money spent on bringing the camel to campus—around $500—and the implication that it would be racially insensitive to Middle Eastern cultures.

  And now we are learning about the story of a University of California fraternity which stands accused of racism because coconut bras and grass skirts are now apparently racist. I kid you not.

    Here is more:

At the University of California, Irvine, the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity stands accused of anti-Pacific Islander racism because it recently hosted a charity fundraiser called the FIJI Islander party which featured students who dressed in coconut bras and grass skirts.

The kerfuffle began on May 20 when Save Gasaiwai, a UCI student of Fijian descent, complained in a statement that the charity fundraiser caused pain to “marginalized” people and reinforced “white male hegemonic structures.”

The statement endorsed by the school’s Asian Pacific Student Association accused the FIJI fraternity of “tacitly committing an act of cultural appropriation and publicly projecting their ethnographic ignorance.”

The statement also included a list of demands. This run-on sentence for example: “Tell members of your organization to stop wearing our traditional/cultural attires, they don’t know jack shit about its cultural significance.”

  The fraternity has been ordered to attend some sort of sensitivity training:

As a result of the event, reports Campus Reform, administrators at UCI have compelled the fraternity and other Greek organizations into “ongoing discussions” about “offending others.”

“The administration and student affairs is using it as an opportunity to show to fraternities what cultural appropriation is and how they might be more sensitive, to be able to have their week of philanthropy that ends in a social event without,” UCI spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon told Campus Reform.

  Such is life in today’s America; there is nothing which somebody cannot find offensive and in fact I would state that it seems as though people are now actively looking for reasons to be offended because they believe it offers them a chance to prove to the world how sensitive and caring they are.

  The sad thing about all of this, in my opinion, is that it marginalizes cases in which true racism is still exhibited. As more and more stories of false outrage and contrived racism come to light people will be desensitized to the point where in the case of real racism they will turn a blind eye, thinking here we go again. Sort of like the boy who cried wolf.

  On a side note, one has to wonder what would happen if Hollywood decided to release another movie along the lines of ‘Animal House.”